Prison Guard Being Investigated

Warrant Targets Phone Records

CHESHIRE — State investigators have obtained warrants to seize the phone records of a prison guard who is charged with trying to smuggle a weapon into the Cheshire Correctional Institution.

State Trooper Henry Arroyo said the warrant's intent is to allow investigators to examine AT&T records to learn whether the guard, Antonio Gonzalez III, had been communicating with drug dealers.

Gonzalez, 30, has been the focus of a state police investigation into drug smuggling in the Cheshire maximum security prison.

After police received a tip that Gonzalez was taking narcotics to inmates, police obtained search warrants for his car and person in February. On Feb. 2, Arroyo met Gonzalez as he entered the prison for work and searched him. Police did not find narcotics, but Arroyo is alleged to have found a sharp object in the guard's breast pocket.

Gonzalez was charged with trying to smuggle a weapon into the prison. He was also placed on indefinite administrative leave without pay by the state Department of Correction.

Gonzalez has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Hartford-based attorney Nicholas Francis, said the ``weapon'' was actually a letter-opener.

Arroyo said he doubts the phone records will lead to more charges against the guard, but it could lead to termination of Gonzalez's employment.

According to Department of Correction spokesman William Wheeler, an employee may be fired if it is established that the person has ``undo familiarity'' with an inmate or person under the department's supervision -- such as a parolee.

Wheeler would not comment specifically on Gonzalez, saying the department is conducting its own investigation.

Gonzalez is set to appear in Meriden Superior Court on the weapon charge next Thursday.